The park entrance and ranger station — pay the fee, and learn the one rule that matters most here: keep your distance from the wild horses.
You're at the park entrance now — the ranger station and fee booth. The pass is twenty-five dollars a vehicle and it's good for a week, so hang onto it; everyone in the car is covered. If a ranger's in the booth, they'll hand you a map worth having.
Now the important part, and I'm going to be firm about it because people get hurt here every single year. The wild horses have the run of this place, and they'll walk right up to your car. Do not feed them. Do not touch them. Do not get out to pose beside one. Stay at least forty feet away — and if a horse comes toward you, you back away, not the other way around. They bite, they kick, they're strong enough to stave in a car door, and a fed horse becomes an aggressive horse. There's a hundred-dollar fine for getting too close, but the real penalty is a hospital trip.
Watch both shoulders as you drive from here — horses stand in the road and step out without looking. Slow, patient, and give them room. Do that, and you'll have one of the great wildlife encounters anywhere in America, right through your windshield.
Photo: Notyourbroom · CC BY 3.0
